Results of the latest Adult Inpatient Survey by the Care Quality Commission have been published. The findings show that 44% of patients did not feel involved in decisions about their treatment. Forty-five percent also said they did not feel involved in discharge decisions, and 35% said they weren’t given enough information when leaving hospital. These results are a clear indication that much more still needs to be done to achieve truly patient-centred, personalised care.

Compassion in Dying, a national charity working to inform and empower people to exercise their rights and choices around end-of-life care, has issued a response to the findings of the Care Quality Commission’s survey. They offer advice to help address this issue by encouraging patients to discuss their wishes for future treatment, and to record these wishes in a legally binding way, such as by making an Advance Decision and/or Advance Statement.

Read Compassion in Dying’s response to the survey here